SkyEye

Welcome to SkyEye, your guide to this month's celestial events.

June 2007

All times and dates are given in Universal Time (UT).
Nightly darkness estimates are calculated for 45° N and 30° S.
Like total solar eclipses, lunar occultation events can be seen only from limited regions on Earth (and sometimes not at all if the occultation takes place during daylight hours). However, the Moon will appear close in the sky to its "target" for some hours either side of the actual occultation, regardless of where you are.

Date		Event
1	Fri	Full Moon occults first-magnitude star Antares: visible from southern and central South America, and the South Atlantic.
2	Sat	Mercury at greatest elongation east
3	Sun
4	Mon
5	Tue	Jupiter at opposition
6	Wed
7	Thu
8	Fri	Last Quarter Moon
9	Sat	Uranus at west quadrature
10	Sun
11	Mon
12	Tue	Moon at perigee
13	Wed
14	Thu
15	Fri	New Moon
16	Sat
17	Sun
18	Mon	Moon occults Venus: visible from northeastern Africa, the Middle East and southcentral Asia, including western India.
19	Tue	Moon occults Saturn: visible from the western Pacific.
20	Wed	Moon occults first-magnitude star Regulus: visible from western and southern North America, Central America and northwestern South America.
21	Thu	Solstice
22	Fri	First Quarter Moon
23	Sat
24	Sun	Moon at apogee
25	Mon
26	Tue
27	Wed
28	Thu	Moon occults first-magnitude star Antares: visible from eastern Australia, New Zealand, the South Pacific and southern South America.
28	Thu	Mercury at inferior conjunction
29	Fri
30	Sat	The second Full Moon in a calendar month is popularly known as a Blue Moon. This phase occurs today at the instant of 1349 UT. However, for time zones more than 11 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (including New Zealand and some South Pacific islands), this Full Moon will occur tomorrow, postponing the Blue Moon until the end of next month.

The Solar System

The word planet is derived from the Greek word for "wanderer." Unlike the background stars, planets seem to move around the sky, keeping mostly to a narrow track called the ecliptic, the path of the Sun across the stars. Dwarf planets and small solar-system bodies are not so constrained, often moving far above or below the ecliptic.

Sun: Taurus -> Gemini
A solstice occurs on Earth on 21 June. The word solstice means "sun stands still" so that on this day, the solar declination reaches an extreme. In this case, the Sun appears directly over the Tropic of Cancer in the northern hemisphere. From now until the solstice in December, days will be getting shorter in the northern hemisphere and longer in the southern hemisphere.
Mercury: Gemini
At greatest elongation east on the second day of the month, Mercury sinks towards the western horizon after sunset, disappearing around mid-month. It undergoes inferior conjunction on 28 June.
Venus: Gemini -> Cancer -> Leo
The "evening star" is occulted by the Moon on 18 June. Although this dazzling planet is now descending towards the horizon in the northern hemisphere, it is actually rising slightly when viewed from the southern hemisphere.
Mars: Pisces -> Aries
The red planet continues to brighten and now rises early in the morning well before the Sun.
Jupiter: Ophiuchus
At opposition on 5 June, Jupiter is at its biggest and brightest this month. It can be viewed all night.
Saturn: Leo
The ringed planet is not far above the brighter Venus in the western sky. It is occulted by the Moon on 19 June, the day after our satellite eclipses Venus. Saturn sets before midnight.
Uranus: Aquarius
This gas giant, always just on the verge of naked eye visibility, reaches west quadrature on 9 June, rising about midnight.
Neptune: Capricornus
A small telescope is necessary to view the most distant planet in the solar system. Currently found in the sky opposite to Saturn, Neptune rises in the east just as the ringed planet sets in the west.

The Celestial Sphere

Constellations are patterns of stars in the sky. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) recognises 88 different constellations. The brightest stars as seen from the Earth are easy to spot but do you know their proper names? With a set of binoculars you can look for fainter objects such as nebulae and galaxies or some of the closest stars to the Sun.

Descriptions of the sky for observers in both the northern and southern hemispheres are available for the following times this month. Subtract one hour from your local time if summer (daylight savings) time is in effect.

Local Time	Northern Hemisphere	Southern Hemisphere
1730 hours (1830 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
1930 hours (2030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2130 hours (2230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
2330 hours (0030 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0130 hours (0230 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0330 hours (0430 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S
0530 hours (0630 hours summer time)	45° N	30° S

For More Information...

Consult our online glossary for non-technical explanations of many of the astronomical terms used in these pages.
Blue moons, eclipses, the dates of Easter and much more can be found at the Interactive Astronomy Pages.
For more information about the objects and events described in SkyEye, visit these astronomy-related sites.

Credits

Much of this information can be found in this month's issue of your favourite amateur astronomy magazine available in your local bookshop. Another excellent source is the current edition of the Astronomical Calendar by Guy Ottewell and published by the Universal Workshop at Furman University.

The image of Hoag's Object in the SkyEye banner is courtesy of NASA and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA). Discovered in 1950 by astronomer Art Hoag, this unusual ring galaxy is slightly larger than our own Milky Way. The blue ring is dominated by young, massive stars whilst the nucleus is comprised largely of older, yellower stars. Located 600 million light years away in the constellation of Serpens, Hoag's Object was photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope on 9 July 2001.